Being my husband’s secretary was something that wasn’t close to being easy. First, we usually got distracted at work, being a lovey-dovey. And, second, I felt like I was being too focused on work, so I didn’t have enough time to spend at home. However, it made us spend so much time with each other. That was a good part of it.
I turned to the rectangular shaped mirror beside my desk, fixed my hair in a jiffy, and added some makeup to my face. Taking a glance at the black, evening gown I was wearing, I smiled. Ryan would be so excited and proud to see me looking this beautiful.
I grabbed my purse, making my way to the main hall of the company. Stepping into the hallway, my personal assistant walked behind me.
“Mrs. Arthur, are you sure you won’t need any other thing?” She asked.
“No, no.” I walked into the elevator. I glimpsed at her, crouching a little so I’d adjust my shoe. It didn’t completely fit on my leg. “And, see, you shouldn’t worry about anything. Today’s a day of celebration. You shouldn’t worry about work, okay?”
She smiled. “Thanks, ma’am.”
Soon, we stepped out of the elevator. A bit nervous and excited at the same time, we made our way into the hall. Too bad for me, the celebration had already begun. Praise, Tracie, Jessica, my entire family, and a couple of Ryan’s business partners, were already seated, clapping and chanting for the chairmen and CEOs who were being invited to the VIP seats. Kenneth and Marsha, who were now working in Ryan’s company, were present as well. How in the world was I late to this celebration?
A bit embarrassed, I made my way towards the crowd. I waved at my friends, sitting a few seats away from mom and dad. I smiled at them, and focused on the short, middle aged man who stood behind the podium.
He cleared his throat. “Once again, I want to thank Mr. Arthur for hosting this amazing event. Also, I’m more than honored to present this award to him. Congratulations on your success. With due respect, let’s all applaud the best businessman of the year, Ryan Arthur.”
Immediately, everyone clapped for Ryan. As he walked to the podium to get his award, he grinned, obviously feeling very happy. I felt as happy as he felt. It wasn’t just because he was getting this great award, it was also because I was proud to be his wife, proud to be part of his great achievement, and proud to celebrate him.
“Thank you, thank you,” he said, leaning close to the microphone. He kept something in the pocket of his suit, taking his award from the middle aged man. Before progressing in his speech, he glanced at me. He sighed. “I’m more than excited about this. This is one of the biggest award ceremonies in the city. I feel very honored to be the winner of this year’s award.”
I smiled widely. I felt so emotional by just looking at him.
“First, I’m grateful to God for this success,” he continued. “And second, I’m grateful to my beautiful wife, Serene. To be honest, if she hadn’t been with me all along, none of this would’ve been possible. Not at all.”
“Oh, you.” I sent kisses to him via the air, though he didn’t look at me.
He chortled. “I mean, it was hard. I was almost giving up. There were times I got frustrated and shattered. There were times I almost ran out of money. At some point, I vented my frustration on everyone around me, including her. I was almost causing havoc between us, but she didn’t let go. She chose to understand me, and teach me how to live. She stayed with me, motivated me in the best ways she could, prayed for me, loved me, made me feel on top of the world.”
Tears soaked my eyes. I kept blinking, trying so much to hold them back.
“Aw…” I whispered to myself.
“Serene.” He turned to me. He smiled heartily, and I abruptly had a feeling that he was also very emotional. “This award should be yours. Cause, if I had given up, I wouldn’t be receiving it. In fact, there would be no company named Seran. I’d probably be very wretched by now. About two years ago, you told me you were going to make it up to me for the mistake you made. Little did I know that I’d end up owing you a lot.”
Finally, the tear left my eye. I laughed, a bit worried that my tears would ruin my makeup.
He smiled even more. “You’re the best woman in the world. I’ve always loved you, and I can assure you that I’ll keep loving you. Thank you so much, my love. God bless you.”
I sniffled. Without requesting a tissue, my personal assistant, Sona, gave one to me.
“I love you too.” I sent kisses for a second time. This time around, he saw me.
He turned to the crowd. After speaking for a little longer, the crowd gave him a standing ovation. He walked to me, held my hand, and pulled me up to stand.
He leaned close, dropping a kiss on my cheek. “Thanks, sweetie,” he said.
I smiled. “Thanks as well. Thanks.”
“Come with me.” He winked. “Everyone needs to see you. They need to see my beautiful wife.”
I blushed, gently hitting his arm. I smirked a little, and winked too. “Hope they won’t take me from you.”
He shot me a playful glare. “They won’t dare.”
I chuckled. Not speaking further, we made our way to the podium. As we did so, the whole crowd clapped so much, acknowledging us. I couldn’t contain my mixed feelings. This was a day I wouldn’t ever forget.
***
In despair, I shut my eyes, not willing to look at the pregnancy test. Feeling so shattered, I just put it beside the big mirror which was hung to the bathroom wall, not ready to feel bad once again. I leaned my hands on the wash hand basin, staring at my reflection via the mirror. No matter how good things were going, I just couldn’t find my ultimate happiness. What was going on with me?
I sniffled, gulping down my tears. What else could I do?
In a month, it would be two years since Ryan and I got married. After getting married, I had expected a child to grow in my womb, but that didn’t seem possible. In the period of our marriage, I had gone through three IVFs. Unfortunately, none had been successful. I had actually gotten pregnant once, but had ended up having a miscarriage.
When I was younger, I wouldn’t have thought I would be barren. While Ryan and I had been dating, I had thought he didn’t like children. Little had I known that he was ever dying to be a father. But, unluckily for him, I had issues with conception.
I glanced at the trash basket which was beside the wash hand basin. There were a whole lot of used pregnancy tests in the trash, all of them giving a negative result. Did this mean I wouldn’t ever bear my own child?
I sobbed. I was so weak. The celebration at Ryan’s company had made my day, but this one thing had completely made me so shattered.
With shaky fingers, a mind filled with so much negativity, a broken heart, a crumbled body, a scattered exhalation, closed eyes, and mixed feelings running in my head, I picked up the pregnancy test. This was only April. In this year, I had undergone about twenty pregnancy tests. Nineteen of them had been negative. This was my last hope for a while.
My heart pounding hard against my chest as if I was on a battlefield, I opened my eyes. Seeing the result, a hard breath left my nose. I stared blankly for a while. Overwhelmed, I threw my hand over my mouth, and burst out crying.
Ryan
I slipped on a brown, v-neck shirt, just a perfect match for the sweat pants I was wearing. I stepped out of the closet, smiling so much, feeling very glad. Today had been a very good day for me. Seriously, I couldn’t thank Serene enough. I kept wondering how my life would have been if she hadn’t been so supportive of me.
Stepping into the room, I scanned my eyes around, searching for her. I was almost dazed to know that she wasn’t sleeping yet, but then, I remembered what she was probably doing. I gulped down the pain that abruptly ran through me, feeling really, really bad.
Not thinking twice, I made my way towards the bathroom. Before opening the door, I shut my eyes, rolling my fingers up in a fist. No matter how much I pretended to feel fine, the truth was, I couldn’t stop feeling terrible about this. I just wanted to be a father. We needed our family to be complete. Anyway, making her feel better would always be the priority.
I opened the door. As expected, she was on her knees, crying her eyes out of their sockets. I sighed hard, then walked to her. I helped her to stand up, turned her around, and rubbed my thumb fingers against her cheek, to wipe off her tears.
“Honey, it’ll be fine. We should just give ourselves some time,” I consoled her.
She shook her head. “No,” she rebuked in a whisper. Those blue eyes darkened, nothing but agony dashing through them. “There’d be no need for that. I-It’s…” She sobbed harder. “It’s not negative. Neither is it invalid. Honey, it’s positive. I-It’s positive. I-I just can’t believe it. It’s actually positive.”
For a moment, I tried to understand what she had said. Wait, ‘positive’? That meant she was… pregnant?
She smiled, still crying hard. “We’re gonna be parents. After two years. I don’t know what to say.”
For the first time in years, tears welled in my eyes. I pulled her into my arms, cuddled her so tightly. I knew I was supposed to jump and maybe dance happily, but I felt too weak to do those. I was in a state of shock. I pulled from our hug, and without a tiny bit of hesitation, I locked my lips to hers. I kissed mildly, passionately, and carefully.
Pulling away, I cupped her jaw. I blinked to hold back these tears of joy. “We did it. Thank God. W-We made a baby. After all these years.”
She nodded crazily, and whispered, “Yes. We did it. I’m so happy.”
Again, filled with so much joy, I pulled her into my embrace. As she wept on my chest, I shut my eyes. I couldn’t contain my emotions. Hugging her felt like electricity was moving through us. This connection and excitement was indescribable. It made me feel so weak, for some unknown reasons.
I swallowed my tears. It was all I could do.
She stopped crying, but we didn’t let go of each other. In this one embrace, I was holding my entire family. In this embrace, love was an understatement to what I could feel between us. For some reason, memories raced in my head. I loved her even more.
She used to be my secretary at Twinkle Stars, now she was my wife. Raymond, James, and even Kenneth, had all tried to get her, but I was the lucky one. I was the one who made her mine, which was something I had least expected. In this case, if all four of us had wanted her, did it mean she had been involved in a… love pentagon? Or wait, was it a love polygon?
Wow. This was such a journey I wouldn’t ever forget. This was a journey of love, which was not different from a struggle.
In the end, she was mine. And, as far as I knew, I would never let go of her. Only death would do us apart.
Serene Alan eventually became Serene Arthur? And now, we would have our own child? What a coincidence.
***
~ THE END~
Completed on 10/05/2021 (My goodness! It’s over! ? Please, swipe or scroll to the next page! ❤️)